From the need to diversify and expand the industry's workforce to building stronger relationships with customers to raising a collective voice in the legislative halls of government, ChannelCon attendees were encouraged to take on the critical issues facing the industry.

"Each year ChannelCon brings the IT channel's movers and shakers together to debate and discuss the issues affecting the businesses," said Kelly Ricker, senior vice president, events and education, CompTIA. "The issues and challenges identified this year – led by significant workforce issues – seem at first blush to be daunting. But ChannelCon attendees left the conference energized and determined to take them on."

Preliminary attendance reports indicate more than 4,200 people participated in ChannelCon either in person or online. More than 1,000 were on hand in person in South Florida, including representatives from 375 technology solution providers, the companies that provide the vast majority of technology expertise and service for businesses and organizations. ChannelCon Online, the companion virtual conference, attracted another 3,200 attendees.1

Best of Show Awards

The ChannelCon Technology Vendor Fair attracted more than 150 technology vendors, distributors and solution providers who launched and showcased innovative channel-focused products, solutions and tools. The following companies received ChannelCon 2016 Best of Show awards as determined by the votes of solution provider attendees.

Best Channel Partner Program: Datto, a provider of comprehensive backup, recovery and business continuity solutions used by thousands of managed service providers worldwide.

Best Innovation: StorageCraft, a provider of best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops.

Best Services and Support: Intermedia, a "one-stop shop" for cloud business applications.